Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Gove Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Gove Township

Gove Township’s post office opened in 1886, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1890.

1886first post office
0on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Gove Township began

When was Gove Township founded?

1886

The Gove Township post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hackberry (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 118 in 18902020 census: 181140 years
Founding year: the first Gove Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Gove Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Gove Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 284 in 1940; 80 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Gove Township’s homes were built before 1947.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gove Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gove Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Gove Township, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 284

Peaked at 284 in 1940; 80 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gove Township’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Gove Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gove Township.

Read it all →

Gove City was founded in 1885. It was designated county seat in 1886, and incorporated in 1888. It is named for Grenville Gove, member of the 11th Kansas Cavalry Regiment.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gove Township, 1881 to 1972

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Hackberry post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1931Post officeThe Hackberry post office closes
  5. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 284
  6. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Gove Township, decade by decade

Today1 recent
KSMap-doton-Gove City2004KSMap-doton-Gove City
On the map

Gove Township on the map, 1972 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gove Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Gove Township on the 1972 USGS mapGove Township on the 1985 USGS map1972Orion NE sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Gove Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Hackberry, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Hackberrylocale
1cemetery inside Gove Township
Gove

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Gaeland Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGrinnell Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPayne TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLewis TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGrainfield Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJerome TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Gove Township’s history

What year was Gove Township founded?

The Gove Township post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.